I build systems that keepbusinesses moving.

PRODUCTION SYSTEMS · BUSINESS OPERATIONS

CRM and ERP platforms, internal tools, APIs, and automation, designed for real world operations, not just launch day.

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I'm a Full Stack Engineer

Abu Dhabi, UAEBased in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Building production systems for real world operations.

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For growing teams

Common problems I solve

If your business is growing but the tools feel messy, slow, or disconnected, these are the kinds of problems I help clean up.

We still manage important work through spreadsheets.
Our website looks fine but does not support the business properly.
Our CRM/ERP, website, PWA's and other tools do not talk to each other.
Our system is slow, buggy, or hard to maintain.
We need dashboards, portals, automations, or internal tools.
We need someone who can build, deploy, and support the full system.

We still manage important work through spreadsheets.
Our website looks fine but does not support the business properly.
Our CRM/ERP, website, PWA's and other tools do not talk to each other.
Our system is slow, buggy, or hard to maintain.
We need dashboards, portals, automations, or internal tools.
We need someone who can build, deploy, and support the full system.

03 · The shift

From messy to measurable.

A few of the typical transformations I help teams make: clean systems replacing tangled ones, without the rebuild theatre.

Before

Leads scattered across tools, lost in inboxes and spreadsheets.

After

One system for tracking, routing, and reporting, with clean ownership.

Lead management01 / 03
Before
Leads scattered across tools, lost in inboxes and spreadsheets.
After
One system for tracking, routing, and reporting, with clean ownership.
Reporting02 / 03
Before
Manual reports rebuilt every week from spreadsheet exports.
After
Automated dashboards, scheduled exports, and alerts the team trusts.
Website03 / 03
Before
Website looks fine but does not move the business forward.
After
Clear structure, faster pages, and CTAs that actually convert.

Selected work

Systems I've shipped

Real production stories from the systems I've built, fixed, and kept alive.

All case studies

Ship log01 / 06

№ 01ai_automation~Recent production work

ai_automation~Recent production work

AI for Work Nobody Wants to Do

Problem

Important business data often hides inside documents, emails, notes, and scattered records. Teams waste time finding it, reading it, and moving it into the right workflow.

What I built

Less manual admin

+4 more outcomes — see full case study

LaravelAngularOCR ExtractionVector SearchMySQL

Open case studyView case study

№ 02CRM~Ongoing production support and development

CRM~Ongoing production support and development

One Engineer. Entire Business Platform.

Problem

The business relied on a large, production CRM/ERP platform with lines of code powering daily operations across sales, leasing, listings, deals, compliance, HR, finance, call center operations, dashboards, automations, and integrations. I worked closest to the platform, helping keep it stable, improving legacy workflows, debugging production issues, building new internal tools, and supporting multiple departments without disrupting daily operations.

What I built

4M+ codebase maintained

+4 more outcomes — see full case study

LaravelAngularMySQLAWSREST APIs

Open case studyView case study

№ 03Cloud Infrastructure~February 2026 – March 2026

Cloud Infrastructure~February 2026 – March 2026

Keeping a Core Business Platform Online During Regional Cloud Instability

Problem

Regional cloud instability created serious risk for core platform availability, storage access, and day-to-day business operations. I helped move and stabilise critical infrastructure across AWS regions, using Frankfurt as the recovery target while validating EC2, RDS, S3, VPC, DNS, AWS DataSync, and multi-AZ resilience to keep production workflows usable during the disruption.

What I built

Regional failover completed

+3 more outcomes — see full case study

AWSEC2RDSS3Route 53VPC

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№ 04Internal Tools~2025 – Present

Internal Tools~2025 – Present

Don't Rebuild. Refactor.

Problem

Most legacy CRM and ERP systems do not fail loudly. They drift over time. Years of urgent fixes and shifting business needs can slowly turn a working system into something heavy, confusing, and risky to touch. A full rebuild may sound like the answer, but in a live business, it often creates more risk than it removes.

What I built

Cleaner daily workflows

+2 more outcomes — see full case study

CRM and ERPRefactorWorkflowsReportingPhased Delivery

Open case studyView case study

№ 05AI Systems~2026 – Present

AI Systems~2026 – Present

AI-Driven Lead Scoring & Prioritisation System

Problem

Sales teams lacked a reliable way to prioritise leads, leading to inconsistent follow-ups and missed opportunities. There was no clear signal to identify which leads required immediate attention.

What I built

Improved lead prioritisation

+3 more outcomes — see full case study

LaravelMySQLREST APIsClaudeAI / LLMAngular

Open case studyView case study

№ 06Marketing Operations~March 2026 - Present

Marketing Operations~March 2026 - Present

Building an Internal Campaign Operations System

Problem

Campaign prep depended on cross-tool exports, manual filtering, and inconsistent tags. Audience readiness wasn't visible, lists weren't reusable, and teams kept rebuilding the same selections.

What I built

Centralised audiences

+3 more outcomes — see full case study

LaravelAngularMySQLREST APIsTypeScript

Open case studyView case study

Process

How I actually work

How I turn messy requirements into systems that survive production, and stay maintained after launch.

01
Discover
Map the process, find bottlenecks, and align on what success looks like in production.
02
Design data
Schema-first: migrations, indices, and constraints planned for production scale.
03
Ship clean UI
Angular & Next.js with real UX—mobile-first, accessible, and fast.
04
Automate
Jobs, lead flows, and n8n—the repetitive work runs itself, reliably.
05
Deploy & own
CI/CD, monitoring, on-call—I own what I ship well after launch.

01
Discover
Map the business process, find the bottleneck, agree on what success looks like in production.
02
Design data
Schema-first. Migrations, indices, constraints: production scale planned from day one.
03
Ship clean UI
Angular and Next.js with real world UX, not just CRUD. Mobile-first, accessible, fast.
04
Automate
Background jobs, lead flows, n8n triggers: the boring parts run themselves, reliably.
05
Deploy & own
AWS-ready CI/CD, monitoring, on-call. I own what I ship, even after launch.

See what I do

Read a case study

Built with

The stack I ship with

Tools I actually use to build, ship, debug, and keep systems alive.

Laravel· Backend
Lumen· Backend
Angular· Frontend
Next.js· Frontend
TypeScript· Frontend
MySQL· Data
PostgreSQL· Data
Redis· Data
Pinecone· Data
AWS· Cloud
Docker· Cloud
Nginx· Cloud
OpenAI· AI
Anthropic· AI
LangChain· AI
n8n· Automation

Full toolkit · rustylopez.dev/toolkit

System thinking

How I think in systems

Every project moves through the same clean pipeline, from interface to database to the automation that keeps it alive in production.

rusty@architecture · ~/pipelinev1.0

Frontend

Angular · Next.js

Clean UI layers

API

Laravel · Lumen

Validated endpoints

Database

MySQL · Postgres

Real query design

Automation

n8n · Cron

Silent background jobs

Reporting

AWS · Logs

Alerts before users notice

Frontend

Angular · Next.js

ui/

Clean component layers your team can actually navigate.

API

Laravel / Lumen

api/

Versioned, validated endpoints with predictable contracts.

Database

MySQL · Postgres

db/

Schemas designed for the real queries, not just the happy path.

Automation

n8n · Cron · Queues

jobs/

The boring jobs that run silently so the team doesn’t have to.

Reporting

AWS · Nginx · Logs

ops/

Dashboards, alerts, and logs that surface issues before users do.

System flow

FrontendAPIDatabaseAutomationReporting

Owned end to end

Frontend → API → Database → Automation → Reporting

Owned end to end

Engagement

Ways we can work together

Three flexible engagement models, depending on how messy your stack is and how much you want me involved.

01
Discovery sprint
1–2 weeks1 to 2 weeks
Map the messy parts of your stack, find the bottlenecks, and leave with a clear plan for what to fix first.
- Architecture & data audit
- Bottleneck & risk report
- Prioritised build roadmap
- Audit
- Roadmap
Best for · Teams unsure where to start.
Best forTeams unsure where to start
Start this engagementStart
Most picked
02
Most picked
System build
4–12 weeks4 to 12 weeks
End to end design, build and ship of a CRM module, internal tool, or production website that the team actually adopts.
- Frontend, API & schema
- CI/CD + monitoring
- Handover docs & training
- Build & ship
- CI/CD + docs
Best for · When the system needs to ship and stay alive.
Best forWhen the system needs to ship and stay alive
Start this engagementStart
03
Embedded engineer
MonthlyMonthly retainer
Plug into an existing team for a few days a week: own a slice of the platform, mentor juniors, ship features.
- 2 to 3 days / week capacity
- Slack + standups + reviews
- Quarterly architecture reviews
- 2–3 days / week
- Slack + reviews
Best for · Teams that need senior firepower.
Best forTeams that need senior firepower
Start this engagementStart

Explore

Want to know more?

Writing

Featured Posts

Field notes on systems, business tools, cloud, and the messy parts of software.

All posts

Spotlight01 / 06

№ 01May 21, 20265 min read

Ready AI Tools vs Custom AI Systems for UAE Companies

Custom AI or ready AI tools? Learn how UAE businesses can choose the right AI setup based on data privacy, integrations, workflows, compliance, and business goals.

Business Automation UAEAI IntegrationBusiness AI ToolsCustom Software UAECustom AIReady AI Tools

Open this pieceRead piece

№ 02May 5, 20266 min read

Top 5 Mistakes UAE Companies Make When Hiring a Tech Partner

Learn the common mistakes UAE companies make when hiring a tech partner, from choosing based on price to ignoring security, compliance, and long-term system performance.

Tech Partner UAEUAE Software CompanyCRM Development UAEWeb Development UAEBusiness Automation UAESoftware Project Mistakes

Open this pieceRead piece

№ 04Apr 17, 20265 min read

Why Internal Tools Fail Even When Teams Clearly Need Them

Many internal tools are built with good intentions, yet still struggle with adoption, trust, and long-term usefulness. The issue is rarely the idea itself. More often, it is how the system fits into real workflows, decision-making, and day-to-day operational pressure.

Open this pieceRead piece

11 · FAQ

Things people usually ask

Quick answers to the questions that come up before every project. If yours isn't here, just ask.

Ask me directly

Common topics

ScopePricingTimezoneStackHandover

We start with a short discovery call, then a 1 to 2 week paid discovery sprint where I audit the system, map data flows, and write up a prioritised roadmap. Bigger builds always start from that document, never a vague brief.

CRMDashboardsAPIsAutomationInternal Tools

Currently accepting projects

Have a system that needs building or untangling?

Tell me what is slow, manual, scattered, or breaking. I'll help turn it into something your team can actually use.

Start a project Book a 30 minute call

Reply within 24 hours · Abu Dhabi, UAE

What I help with

05 / areas

CRM / internal tools
Dashboards and reports
API integrations
Automation workflows
Production support

Available

Q2 · 2026

Timezone

GST · UTC+4

I build systems that keepbusinesses moving.Underline

Need a system?

Want proof?

Want my thinking?

Ready to talk?

From messy to measurable.

Systems I've shipped

AI for Work Nobody Wants to Do

How I actually work

Discover

Design data

Ship clean UI

Automate

Deploy & own

Discover

Design data

Ship clean UI

Automate

Deploy & own

The stack I ship with

How I think in systems

Ways we can work together

Discovery sprint

System build

Embedded engineer

Want to know more?

My Story

View Work/Case Studies

Explore Services

Right Now

Read the Blog

Start a Project

Featured Posts

Ready AI Tools vs Custom AI Systems for UAE Companies

Things people usually ask

01How do you typically scope a project?

02Do you work solo or with a team?

03What stack do you usually ship in?

04Can you take over an existing codebase?

05Where are you based and what timezone do you work in?

06What does a working week look like with you?

Have a system that needs building or untangling?

I build systems that keepbusinesses moving.